Name: Meiji Meltyblend
Origin: Japan
Found at: 99 Ranch, Irvine
Cost: $2.99 per box
Ingredients:
Meiji Mletyblend Creamy Chocolat
Sugar, Vegetable Fat (Palm Oil, Sunflower Oil, Shea Oil), Cacao Mass, Whole Milk Powder, Cocoa Butter, Skim Milk Powder, Cream Powder, Cocoa Powder, Emulsifier (Soy Lecithin), Lactose, Butter Oil, Artificial Flavor.
Meiji Meltyblend Fruity Strawberry
Sugar, Vegetable Fat (Palm Oil, Sunflower Oil, Shea Oil), Cocoa Butter, Whole Milk Powder, Cacao Mass, Dried Strawberry, Lactose, Cream Powder, Cocoa Pwder, Trehalose, Emulsifier (Soy Lecithin Sucrose Fatty Acid Esters), Cheese Powder, Skim Milk Powder, Artificial Flavor, Apple Paste, Antioxidant (V.C., V.E.) Vegetable Pigment.
Why I Bought It:
It wasn't because of any cartoon characters, or some unintentionally funny Engrish. This time, I bought these boxes of Meiji Meltyblends because it looked, for a lack of a better term, good. And the name reeled me in from the start, describing exactly what I hoped the product in the picture would taste like.
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Insanely addictive. Out of all the Wacky Snacks I've had to profile for this feature, this is by far the most enjoyable of them all. I'm going to keep buying this after this is published and long forgotten. I'm hooked.
The closest thing I can equate these to are little truffles shaped into cubes. And in my mouth, it does exactly what the name says it does: it melts. And it does it cleanly. After a minute, there's no trace of the candy in your mouth, making you reach for another immediately.
The strawberry in particular tastes like strawberry milkshake distilled in a cubic centimeter. Silken, not-too-sweet, and dusted lightly in cocoa powder so as to emulate a chocolate-dipped strawberry. The chocolate flavor is just as good, with a malty finish.
Now, off to get another box.
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.